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Lt Hobart G "Bart" Osburn, 321st Bomb Group, 445th Bomb Squadron

1944
—Italy

Craig Losche of Bertoud, Colorado has assembled this information about his brother-in-law Lt Hobat Osburn.

Hobart (Bart) Osburn 31 Combat Missions as Bombardier/Navigator in the B-25 #42-64675, an "unnamed" B-25 with the puppy name POOCHIE painted on her nose. Hobart (Bart) G. Osburn/Osborn's first mission was 10 June 1943. Bart was on his 31st mission when his plane (James B. Fisher, pilot) was shot down and they ended up in Stalag Luft 1 near Barth, Germany for 18 months. (Info from research by brother in law Craig Losche

8 Oct. 1943; War Diary;

"After southern Italy was liberated Bart's unit moved to an air base in southern Italy (the "heel/toe" area). On October 8, 1943 on his 29th mission ("50 missions got you a vacation"), his unit was on their first bombing mission to Athens, Greece. The seven man crew was accompanied by an intelligence officer who worked for the Museum of Art in ???? and he wanted to see the Acropolis fromStalag 17B Braunau Gneikendorf Near Krems Austria 48-15 the air. During the flight across the water to Greece they encountered heavy German fighter attack. They got separated from the major part of the flight to protect after bomber. This is when their plane was damaged and were forced to ditch in the Gulf of Corinth at about 1:45 PM ("that's when my wrist watch stopped"). After trying to paddle their 6-man lifeboat (2 had to hang on from the water) to the shore, which was in sight, without little or no success, they were picked up by a German cutter at about 6 PM and taken to a German mountain camp. From this camp in Greece they were loaded on a train and taken to Frankfort, Germany".

Bart ended up a POW in Stalag Luft 1 near Barth, German on the Baltic Sea from October 8, 1943 until June 12, 1945. The entire CREW survived the ditching in the Bay of Corinth "at 1:45 PM - that's when my wrist watch stopped".Bart would tell Craig Losche.

Here are several POW stories that he related: -- the POWs had a radio that they listened to BBC to learn about the progress of he war at night. This radio was dismantled during the day and the pieces were carried around the camp by the POWs so the Germans couldn't find it. -- the barracks along the outer fence were used to dig tunnels under the fence for escape. To alert the tunnel diggers that a German guard was around, the code word alert was "GOONUP" = German officer or non commission officer upon premise. -- Stalag Luft 1 was under the flight path of bombers going to bomb Berlin or elsewhere and the POWs would cheer during their flight over and the Germans disliked these demonstrations so they said anyone found outside the barracks would be shot. Bart knew one POW was shot unknowing that there was a fight going over. A British doctor in the camp cared for the POW and Bart was called upon to give his O-negative blood. To repeatedly give this blood Bart received extra food (macaroni and cheese). -- the POWs looked for ways to harass the camp guards. Bart remembers an elderly German officer counting the POWs at a line-up formation, Starting the count as "ein", "zwei". "drei", "vier", then his count was interrupted to tell a POW to take his hands out of his pockets. But he lost track of his count so he had to start over. "ein", "zwei". "drei", "vier", . . . . . . . . . "neun", "zehn" again his count was interrupted to correct another POW. Again he had to start over. "ein", "zwei". "drei", "vier", . . . . . . . . . "neun", "zehn" . . . . . . By this time the POWs made a game of the officer's memory problem so they periodically did something that interrupted the count until the German officer became frustrated. So he quit the count.

"445th BS War Diary: Our men are encountering more and more small Italian children who stand by the garbage pails and be food. They are apparently ill fed. Back in Africa there were the Arab children who pulled the same thing. Here, the plot is the same but the characters different. Once again our men got a look at Photo Jerry this morning. He is apparently interested in this base which is an aerial beehive. Our Squadron lost two planes today in the raid on the Athens Eleusis Airdrome. Great damage was caused and several enemy fighters were destroyed, however."

G Woronuk, John (NMI), Cpl, SN#6846610 (POW record of SN#, no enlistment record)

Their plane was damaged on their first bombing mission to Athens' Eleusis Airdrome in Greece. They were forced to ditch in the Gulf of Corinth at 1:45 PM ("that's when my wrist watch stopped" related Bart Osburn). After trying to paddle their 6-man lifeboat (2 had to hang on from the water) to the shore, which was in sight, without little or no success, they were picked up by a German cutter at about 6 PM and taken to a German camp in the mountains of Greece. From the mountain camp in Greece the crew was loaded on a train and taken to Frankfort, Germany (Dulag Luft near Frankfurt-am-Main).

After the Dulog Luft interrogation stop, the officer POWs were taken by train to Stalag Luft 1 near Barth, German on the Baltic Sea where he was held from October 1943 to May 1, 1945 when the Russians had liberated the camp. [Note: National Archives records list camp as: "Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang Prussia".] After contact was made with the Russians arrangements were made to evacuate the liberated POWs by air. This was completed by 15 May 1945.

The plane's officers were held at Stalag Luft 1 in the following compounds:

Capt. Clarence H. Corning (Massachusetts), South Compound and then the North 1 Compound (Barracks Commander of Barracks 9).

***********************************************************************************************After the Dulog Luft stop, the enlisted personnel were held and liberated as follows:

S/Sgt Theodore C. Kunis, (Illinois), Stalag 3 at Sagan in Silesia (now Zagan, Poland) and then marched to Spremberg and then via rail to Stalag 7A at Moosburg just before liberation on 29 April 1945 by the 14th Armored Division.

S/Sgt Howard L. Garthwaite (New York), Stalag 17B at Gneixendorf near Krems, Austria and then 4000 POWs marched to a Russian prison camp north of Braunau am Inn, Austria just before liberation on 3 May 1945 by the 13th Armored Division. 400 sick POWs left at Stalag 17B were liberated on 9 May 1945 by the Russians. Note: Unknown which group Garthwaite was in.

Cpl John (No Mi) Woronuk (Massachusetts), Stalag 17B at Gneixendorf near Krems, Austria and then 4000 POWs marched to a Russian prison camp north of Braunau, Austria just before liberation on 3 May 1945 by the 13th Armored Division. 400 sick POWs left at Stalag 17B were liberated on 9 May 1945 by the Russians. Note: Unknown which group Woronuk was in.

20 July, 2008; Hi John (Fitzgerald) and Craig, I spoke with Fred Lawrence, he was the crew chief of the other ship that went down with Hartmiester, Frey, Flynn and others, 3 of that crew were KIA, 2 were returned in a few weeks and 2 went on to much bigger things (OSS). Craig, Fred thinks that Bart has both of his books, and the crew chief of the Fisher ship was Moe Martinez, who lives in Calif. That was the personal ship of General Knapp and she had no nose art, the Hartmiester ship had 31 Missions (27 of which while Fred was her crew chief) but no name, other than a yellow name up under the nose, "Poochie". . . ( there was a "Poopsie" already) she was not otherwise named. It was a long time, very long time, until the men knew the fate of that ship that Bart went down in, and Fred remembers him well. . . while not an original from the "training in the states" days, he was there a long tile. Fred has an amazing memory BUT I always remember to remind everyone that while every man was in the same war, all experienced it differently. If Bart wished to speak with Fred, he would like that, if he remembers more of his own ship's crew chief, (Moe Martinez) I can get his phone # as well. I learned more but it does not apply to Bart. Craig, I hope that this little bit of information will be of assistance to you.... Fred only knew of the life of Jim Fisher, he returned, married and had 3 daughters. Carmine was new, he does not remember him, and he said the in his opinion that ..... "Bart was one *very fine* Navigator !" Blessings, Barbi

Hobart "BART" Osburn 1921-2013

31 July, 2013
—Norman, Oklahoma

Lt. Hobart (Bart) G. Osburn died at his home in Norman, OK on Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Bart enlisted in the Army Air Corps on January 9, 1942 in Oklahoma City and was enrolled as an aviation cadet. After basic training and navigation training Bart was assigned to the 12th Army Air Force, 57th Bomb Wing, 321st Bombardment Group which flew B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. As a navigator Bart was a member of a 7-man crew. He was deployed to the Africa campaign in June 1943 and moved with his unit to the air base at Grottaglio (a few miles from Taranto) in the 'heel area' of southern Italy on October 3rd. Returning to base after a mission to Athens' Eleusis Airdrome in Greece on Oct. 8th, his plane's was attacked by German fighters and the right engine was damaged and had to be 'feathered', causing it loose speed/altitude. The plane was forced to ditch in the western end of the Gulf of Corinth. After trying to paddle their 6-man lifeboat ("2 alternately hanging on from the water" - 1 crew + an additional observer) to the shore in hope of contacting Greek patriots, but with little or no success, they were picked up by a German patrol boat. Bart and other air force officers eventually were taken to Stalag Luft 1 near Barth, Germany on the Baltic Sea where he was held from October 1943 to May 1, 1945 when they were liberated by the advancing Russian Army. After being discharged Bart entered the University of Michigan in December 1945 to obtain his bachelor degree financed with the GI Bill and service pay and funds saved during the war. Bart received his BA degree and decided to pursue a Ph D in Psychology, specializing in industrial organization. After completing his PHD program in 1951 (PhD degree received in 1952), the Bart and Barbara Osburn moved to Silver Springs, MD where Bart worked as Research Psychologist with the Dept of the Army, Wash, DC. His next move was to Carbondale, IL, as Assist. Professor at Southern Illinois University (SIU). In 1960 where Bart joined the faculty of the University of Houston as an Assoc. Professor, becoming a Professor of Industrial Psychology in 1967 where his research was in personnel testing and measurements. In 1996 Bart retired from the faculty of the University of Houston, becoming an Emertius Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. In 2007 Bart and Barbara moved to Norman, OK to be near their daughters and grandchildren.